The law came into force under the conditional name "Masks-show stop - 2". The official version of the need for the law is to protect business from law enforcement pressure and strengthen the responsibility of investigators and prosecutors for making illegal decisions.
How will changes in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (hereinafter - the Code of Criminal Procedure of Ukraine) be able to protect business? Briefly about innovations.
Who is affected by the changes?
If after the visit of the investigator and the search of the enterprise decreased equipment, laptops, smartphones and other goods, the changes in the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine apply to you.
Earlier, the investigator had one answer to the business's attempts to return the property: "What is your status - a victim, a suspect?" No? Then wait for the investigation to end. "
Legal entities and individuals whose property has been confiscated and who have no status in criminal proceedings will be able to try to return the property through the courts.
Opportunity to close criminal proceedings
Property seized as a result of searches may be unreasonably stored by investigators for years. As a result, the seized property falls into the "standby mode" indefinitely, and the business is completely or partially blocked.
If the investigator confiscated property from the company, the owner of the property will be able to apply to the court with a request to close the criminal proceedings. After the case is closed, the investigator must return the property, but this can only be done if the investigator has not identified the person suspected of committing the crime.
If the court refuses to return the seized property, there is an opportunity to challenge the decision in the appellate court. But there are a few things to keep in mind.
First, it is possible to try to close the criminal proceedings only in cases initiated after March 16, 2018. That is, the seized property in the old cases, which began before March 16, 2018, will remain on standby.
Secondly, it is possible to take advantage of the innovation if the investigation does not find a suspect within 12 months. For serious crimes, this period is 18 months.
Thus, it will be possible to try to close the criminal proceedings, which contain seized or arrested property, not earlier than March 16, 2019. So we have to wait.
Consider another situation that makes it possible to close criminal proceedings. For example, the investigator believes that your LLC is a one-day, through which money is expelled. The investigator searches and seizes all documents and laptops. He later sees that there is no crime, so he closes the case and returns the confiscated property.
After a while, a colleague of the investigator receives the order and starts a similar case and comes with a new search. At the same time, the arguments that the case is already closed do not work.
For such cases, changes in the Code of Criminal Procedure allow the investigator to write a motion to close the case or appeal the investigator's refusal to the court.
Investigations for the investigator and the prosecutor
They will not be. The draft law provided for the rule that any violations by the investigator and the prosecutor, which were established by the court, were the basis for an official investigation.
However, after the signing of the law by the President, this rule disappeared somewhere. Therefore, as before, any court decisions will not affect the bringing of law enforcement to disciplinary responsibility. This will continue to encourage them to be irresponsible in the performance of their duties.
Conclusion
The good news is that there will be more opportunities to return confiscated property. However, there will be no fewer searches. The changes do not provide for the responsibility of investigators for broken doors, damaged property and illegal searches. As long as investigators do not pay for negligence out of pocket, the situation will not change.
The article is published on League.Blogs
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